


this slope is treacherous

by darthswift13



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Boss/Employee Relationship, F/M, Inspired by New Girl, Social Media, Teacher Rey (Star Wars), Texting, Vice Principal Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:15:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27771361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthswift13/pseuds/darthswift13
Summary: Vice Principal Ben Solo is proud of his new policy to get teachers to stop fraternizing: absolutely no dating between faculty. Ben's timing is impeccable; his new policy goes into effect just as new science teacher Rey arrives.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 151
Collections: Who's that ship? It's Reylo!





	this slope is treacherous

**Author's Note:**

> The moodboard was made by the amazing [Lena](http://twitter.com/bensoloswhore) and my friend [ Yen ](https://twitter.com/little_womp_rat) helped with the summary!
> 
> This fic is inspired by New Girl Season 4 Episode 5, “Landline.”

* * *

It was all Kaydel’s fault, really. If she had never accidentally sent him that text, he probably wouldn’t be in this predicament to begin with.

* * *

The next morning, there is a knock at Ben’s office door. 

“Come in,” Ben says.

The door opens, and Principal Holdo walks into his office with the most beautiful woman he’s ever laid eyes on. Her hair falls in delicate chestnut waves to her shoulders, her eyes are a striking shade of hazel, and her emerald colored dress highlights her figure perfectly and brings out the flecks of green in her eyes. 

“Vice Principal Solo, it is my pleasure to introduce our new science teacher, Ms. Johnson.”

Ben stands up quickly and ends up knocking over his coffee cup in the process, spilling it all over his white shirt and onto his lap. He swears under his breath and tries in vain to wipe away the coffee.

“Oh dear...I’ll go grab some paper towels. I’ll be right back,” Holdo tells him.

Just perfect, he thinks. The most beautiful woman in the world walks into his office and he makes a fool of himself within five seconds. And even so, it’s not like anything could ever happen between them. Because of his own stupid rule.

Ms. Johnson frowns. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, yeah,” Ben mananges. There is a long, awkward silence where they avoid meeting each other’s eyes. After a moment, Ben extends his hand. “I’m Ben Solo, Vice Principal. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Rey flashes the most radiant smile he’s ever seen and his breath catches in his throat. “Rey Johnson,” she says, reaching out and taking his hand. And is he imagining the electricity that seems to blossom from where their hands are clasped? The feeling of her skin touching his is _dizzying_. He never wants her to let go. “I’m so excited to be here.”

When she’s standing this close to him he can see the freckles on her cheeks and smell the lavender scent of her shampoo and the delicate floral notes of her perfume.

“And we’re — we’re, um, we’re thrilled to have you,” he sputters out awkwardly after a moment. “We’ve heard great things about you, Ms. Johnson; your references from your previous school were impeccable.”

They hold each other’s gaze for a long moment, not letting go of each other’s hands, labored breaths mingling in the tense silence.

Suddenly, Ben hears the sound of Principal Holdo clearing her throat and they immediately break the handshake, eyes darting to the floor.

  
Holdo eyes them quizzically before handing Ben the roll of paper towels. “Here.”

“Thanks,” he mutters, grabbing the paper towels and ripping off a sheet before dabbing it onto his shirt and pants.

“Anyway,” Holdo continues, “I’m glad you two were able to have a moment to get acquainted with one another. I’m going to show Ms. Johnson to her classroom now.”

Ben nods. “Right. Of course. Well, it was very nice to meet you, Ms. Johnson.”

“You as well, Mr. Solo.”

Rey and Holdo walk out of his office and close the door behind them. Ben flexes the hand that had touched Rey’s, and he knows he’s totally screwed. 

  
  
  


* * *

* * *

The next day, Ben heads to the teacher’s lounge to pick up something he sent to the printer. And _of course_ Ms. Johnson is there standing by the printer, and _of course_ she looks as heart-stoppingly gorgeous as ever. 

“Mr. Solo,” she says with a smile. “It’s good to see you. How are you today?”

“Er — fine. I’m fine,” he mutters, avoiding eye contact and making his way to the printer. He sees a paper coming out, and immediately goes to grab it, but just as he reaches for it, so does Rey, and their hands brush. They both freeze for a long moment, and Ben feels that same electricity blossoming where their hands touch that he had felt the day before. He clears his throat and quickly pulls out the piece of paper. It looks like a science lesson plan, so it must be hers.

“Oh, um, I think this must be yours?” he asks, turning the paper so she can see it.

“It is, thank you,” Rey replies, reaching over to take it from him. Their hands brush again and she holds his gaze. And there it is: that same tense silence from the day before. He’s overcome by a sudden urge to reach forward and tuck her hair behind her ear, to tell her she looks especially lovely today, because she does. But that would be inappropriate.

Just then, Poe walks in and clears his throat.

“Right, so there’s your paper, Ms. Johnson, and I should really get going now,” he says quickly. 

Rey nods. “Right. Well, it was good to see you, Mr. Solo,” she replies.

“You too,” he says brusquely. Rey turns back to the printer, and as Ben passes Poe, Poe raises his eyebrows at him suggestively. 

“Shut up,” Ben mutters under his breath, only loud enough for Poe to hear. Poe just smirks in reply.

* * *

* * *

Kaydel knocks on the door to Ben’s office the next morning and he tells her to come in.

“Soooo,” Kaydel starts, “A bunch of the faculty are getting together tonight for a happy hour and I wanted to see if you maybe wanted to come?”

“I don’t know Kaydel, happy hours aren’t really my thing.”

“Oh, c’mon, Benji, loosen up and have some fun for once in your life,” she insists. “I heard Ms. Johnson will be there,” she adds, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

“All the more reason for me not to go,” Ben grumbles. 

Kaydel rolls her eyes. “You can’t avoid her forever. Just come out and have one drink. Do it for me. Pleeeease,” she pleads, pouting and making puppy dog eyes.

Ben sighs deeply. “Fine. I’ll come out for just one drink.”

Kaydel claps her hands enthusiastically. “Yayyy! It’ll be fun, I promise.”

* * *

Ben arrives at the bar at 6 p.m. after he finishes his work for the day. Most of the faculty is already there when he arrives, including Rey, who is sitting at the bar looking absolutely ravishing in a red dress. It doesn’t escape his notice that the only free seat at the bar is next to her. _This was definitely a bad idea_ , he thinks to himself, and he’s about to turn to leave when he sees Kaydel waving at him enthusiastically. He sighs and walks over to where she and Poe are seated.

“I’m so glad you made it!” she exclaims enthusiastically. She turns to the bartender. “Can we get a round of tequila shots?”  
  


“Uh, tequila? I drove here, Kaydel.”

“And you’re going to take an Uber home with us,” she informs him with a grin.

Ben chuckles to himself, shaking his head. “Alright, tequila shots it is, I guess.”

Kaydel grins. “Yayyyyy!”

The bartender lays out three salt-rimmed shot glasses and three limes and then pours the tequila into the glasses.

“Bottoms up,” Kaydel says as she picks up her shot glass. She clinks glasses with Ben and Poe, and then they all throw back the shots before quickly grabbing the limes to suck on. “Anyway...unfortunately we don’t have any room for you to sit down over here, _buuuut_ , it appears there’s a seat open next to Ms. Johnson.”

“I—I’m fine standing,” Ben insists.

“You’re really gonna let the new girl sit there all by herself? As Vice Principal, you should make her feel welcome, don’t you think?”

“I mean...I guess that’s a fair point.”

Kaydel smirks. “See? You’d be remiss as Vice Principal if you _didn’t_ talk to her. So I think you should go over there right now immediately.”

“Okay. I’ll go. But only to extend a welcome to her as Vice Principal. My motivations are strictly professional.”

“Yeah, yeah, just go talk to her already!”

“Okay,” Ben says. He takes a deep breath. “Okay. I’m going to talk to Ms. Johnson. It’s fine. I can do this. I can do this.”

“Yes you can!” Kaydel chimes in enthusiastically. “Now gooooo!”

Ben takes another deep breath, and then he walks over to Rey.

“Is — er — um — is this seat taken?” he asks as he walks up to the empty barstool.

Rey turns and smiles that heart-stopping smile of hers and he _melts_ , briefly forgetting why he even came over there in the first place.

“Mr. Solo,” she says softly, and how is it that his name sounds so much better in her accent? He could listen to her say his name all day long. He could listen to her say anything and everything all day long. “I wasn’t sure if you were coming or not. The seat isn’t taken, by the way.”

He nods. “Great. Perfect. Excellent.”

She tilts her head slightly, pushing her brows together. “So are you going to sit down?”

“Oh, right. Of course. Sorry,” he stammers awkwardly before finally sitting down. He turns to the bartender. “I’ll take a whiskey on the rocks, please.”

“So...” Rey starts to say. “Um—how are you tonight?”

“I’m okay. I, um, I saw you were sitting here all alone and I felt like as Vice Principal I should come over and help you feel more welcome.”

Rey smiles. “I appreciate that. It’s been hard to get to know people, being the new girl and all.”

Ben nods. “I get it. I’m a new administrator, and I still feel a bit awkward around the other admin at times, because I’m the new guy.” There’s a long, awkward pause. Rey stirs her drink with her straw and the bartender brings Ben his drink. He pulls a $5 bill from his pocket and leaves it on the counter and the bartender thanks him.

“So...how did you get into teaching?” Ben finally asks.

“Well,” Rey starts to say, “I, um...” She takes a deep breath. “I grew up in foster care and didn’t really have consistent adults in my life because I was always being bounced around to different foster homes. But I had this teacher, Ms. Kanata, who really believed in me and for the first time in my life I felt like I was important and like I could really be someone and do something meaningful with my life. She particularly encouraged my interest in science, and I ended up getting a degree in chemistry from Oxford before going on to get my teaching certification. And now I just really want to be that person for someone else, you know, be there for kids who really need someone, and also to encourage girls to pursue S.T.E.M. fields the way Miss Kanata encouraged me.”

“That’s amazing. Thank you for sharing that with me, Ms. Johnson.” Ben takes a sip of his drink. “I kind of went into teaching for similar reasons. When I was all alone at boarding school after my parents sent me away, my English teacher Mr. Djarin was a strong role model figure for me when I really needed one more than ever. He was there for me when no one else was and believed in me when no one else did. And I wanted to be that person for someone, too.”

Rey smiles at him. “That’s amazing. And I’m sure you have been that person to kids and will continue to be.”

Ben returns her smile. “Same goes for you.”

There’s another tense silence, and he almost wishes he never asked her, because now how can he possibly stop himself from falling for her? This beautiful, brilliant woman who loves kids as much as he does and went to _Oxford_ and wants to encourage young girls to go into S.T.E.M. fields; how could he _not_ fall for her?

He holds her gaze for a long moment, and maybe it’s the tequila and the whiskey but he wishes more than anything that he could kiss her. But that would be highly inappropriate and he could lose his job. And who knows if she would even want him to kiss her? But then he realizes she’s biting down on her lower lip as she leans in imperceptibly closer to him. Does she feel it too? This undeniable, magnetic pull that seems to exist between them?

He sets his hand on the bar. She looks over both of her shoulders and then rests her hand on top of his. He draws in a sharp breath, but he doesn’t pull his hand away. She runs the pad of her thumb in circles on the back of his hand while she holds his gaze.

“Ms. Johnson,” he says quietly. “What are you doing? We could get in a lot of trouble.”

She pulls her hand away. “Right. I’m sorry. I think I misread this. God, I’m so stupid. I should really get going.”

Ben’s brows furrow together. “Rey, what are you talking about? You’re not stupid. Please don’t go. We just— we can’t—”

She stands up, picks her coat up off of the back of the barstool, and slides it on. “I’m just...really tired, so I should get going.”

“Oh...okay,” Ben says quietly. He wants to ask her to text him when she gets home safely, but that would probably be inappropriate, too. Maybe he should also head home. “Well, um...I hope you have a good rest of your night?”

“You too,” Rey says quietly without meeting his eyes. Then she makes her way to the entrance, and just like that she’s gone. And Ben feels incredibly stupid. 

Just then, Kaydel notices Rey’s absence and she marches over to Ben.

“Dude, what happened? Did you scare her away already?”

Ben sighs. “I gave her the wrong impression, so think.”

“Which is...?”

“That I wasn’t just coming over here to talk to her to be a friendly Vice Principal.”

“But you _weren’t_ coming over to talk to her just to be a friendly Vice Principal.”

“I can assure you, I was.”

Kaydel sighs deeply. “Honestly Ben, cut the bullshit. Do you like her or not?” 

“Of course I like her,” he mumbles.

“So you admit it!”

“How could I not like her? She’s beautiful and smart and compassionate and she loves her job and cares about the kids so much, and I’ve been crazy about her from the first moment I laid eyes on her. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Kaydel smirks. “Why yes, it is, Benjamin. So what are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to continue to ignore her.”

Kaydel groans and rolls her eyes. “And how’s that working out for you, Benji?”

“It was working just fine until you forced me to come over here and talk to her.”

“Really?”

Ben sighs. “No. I can’t stop thinking about her no matter what I do.”

“Then ask her out!”

“It’s against the rules, Kaydel, I can’t.”

“It’s against _your_ stupid rule that _you_ made.”

“I’m pretty sure even before I made that rule it was considered inappropriate for an administrator to date a teacher.”

“Frankly, I don’t really think Holdo would care, _you’re_ the one who is super uptight about this stuff.” 

“I don’t know, Kay. I’m tired and I don’t want to talk about this anymore, so I think I’m just gonna head home for the night.”

Kaydel frowns. “Suit yourself. Let me know when you get home safe, okay? Poe and I will probably stay out for a while.”

“Okay, I will. I hope you two have fun.”

* * *

* * *

The next morning, Ben pulls up to the coffee shop he always goes to before work as he runs through a million scenarios in his mind. What if he asks her out, but then he loses his job? Or what if Kaydel is right, and Holdo wouldn’t mind? What if he asks her out and nothing comes of it and he risked their jobs for nothing? Or what if he does nothing and ends up missing out on the love of his life or something?

He decides to try to put it out of his mind. He takes a deep breath and unbuckles his seat belt and then gets out of the car.

That’s when he sees her. Looking as beautiful as ever in her purple pea coat, her hair floating gently in the breeze.

When she sees him, she averts her eyes and starts walking faster.

“Rey, wait. I’m sorry about last night.”

She pauses and slowly turns to face him, but doesn’t say anything just yet. He takes a step toward her. “You didn’t misread the situation. I’m just —” He sighs deeply. “We can’t do this. It’s against the rules.”

She takes a step toward him. “ _What’s_ against the rules?” she demands.

He takes another step toward her and now she’s only a breath away, the lavender scent of her shampoo and the floral notes of her perfume flooding his senses. He doesn’t fight his urge to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear this time. He watches as she stares up at him, her breathing getting faster as his fingertips brush against her cheek.

“What’s against the rules, Ben?” she repeats, softer and more breathless this time, and then just like that, his lips are on hers. And it feels so _right_ to finally give into this inexplicable magnetic pull between them, feels so right to have his hands in her hair and his mouth on hers. She brushes the tip of her tongue along the seam of his mouth like she’s asking him to open it and he’s all too willing to oblige, and, _God,_ the feeling of her tongue pushing against his is just sheer delicious electricity and he never wants to stop tasting her. 

They break the kiss to catch their breath, and he watches as her freckled cheeks adorably flush pink. But as soon as it’s over, he knows he’s made a mistake. This could cost them both their careers. He _can’t._ As much as he wants to, as much as he feels like he _needs_ to. He can’t do it. It’s against the rules.

He averts his eyes to the ground. “I’m sorry. I shouldn't have done that,” he says as he shoves his hands in his coat pockets.

“But _why_?”

“It’s against the rules. I’m an administrator and you’re a teacher.”

Rey rolls her eyes. “Fuck the rules. I like you, Ben, and I don’t care about the stupid rules.”

“I’m sorry but I just—I can’t do this, Rey. It’s not right.”

“What am I doing wrong? I feel like I’m getting such mixed signals from you. Do you like me or not?”

“I like you so much, Rey, believe me, and if circumstances were different, I’d ask you out in a heartbeat. But I can’t. It’s not right. It’s against the rules.”

Rey sighs deeply. “You know what? Just forget it.”

“Rey—”

“Like I said, just forget it, Ben.”

He watches helplessly as she walks away from him, feeling stupider than he’s ever felt in his entire life.

  
  



End file.
